Tuesday, 12 May 2015

Aspirations and working people

I kind of understand why the Tories, Libs and Labs all talk about aspiration and standing up for working people but these phrases are really starting to grate.

Isn't it time that we stood up for the dispossessed? The unemployed? Those with disabilities who can't work? People that stay at home to bring up kids? People who are retired? Young adults, teenagers and kids who are still in education?

The announcements about child care, seemingly now for new born babies, are not about providing support for families, they are about increasing the labour pool. How about supporting a parent through the early years in other ways too, allowing them to stay at home instead?

And as for aspiration... It sounds great, aspiring for a better life, doesn't it? Social mobility is all about not having to do jobs that are deemed beneath us, but this leaves society with a real problem. It seems that successive government champion immigration to fill the fields full of workers on low pay while demonising others who can't meet the aspirational level required for 'better' jobs.

Let's start re-evaluating which jobs are important and start increasing the status of, for example, farm workers who provide us with food and cleaners who stop infections in hospitals.

We should aspire to contribute to society and I would rather do a meaningful job that really helps people than be a banker any day.